Chatham Charter and Seaforth received more post-season honors for the 2023-24 athletic year.
At the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Region 5 meeting in Greensboro on Sept. 19, both programs received the Wells Fargo Conference Cup for their respective conferences.
As a companion of the Wells Fargo State Cup that Seaforth won for the 2A classification after the 2023-24 season, the Wells Fargo Conference Cup recognizes the best interscholastic athletic performance within each NCHSAA conference based on regular season performances within conference play. The honor is given to the school with the most points during the school year, and points are awarded for all sports on a standardized system that gives 50 points for a first-place finish and five less points for every next order of finish.
Chatham Charter won its third straight Conference Cup for the Central Tar Heel 1A conference. The Knights won regular season conference titles in multiple sports, including baseball, softball and girls’ basketball last year. Second-place finishes in boys’ basketball and boys’ and girls’ tennis also helped Chatham Charter get over the top in the cup standings.
The Knights have been rising in overall conference standings since 2020, finishing fifth for the Conference Cup in the 2019-20 season and third the next season before capturing a first-place victory in the 2021-22 athletic year. Chatham Charter won the 2021-22 Conference Cup by over 100 points.
Seaforth took its third Conference Cup in as many years as its existence for the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference. The Hawks took conference titles in volleyball, baseball, girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ cross country, boys’ and girls’ swimming, wrestling, boys’ outdoor track, girls’ soccer and boys’ and girls’ tennis last year.
Since opening its doors in 2021, Seaforth has seen great success in its athletics program, winning multiple state championships at both the team and individual levels. The Hawks won the 2022-23 Conference Cup by a significant margin, beating out second-place Jordan-Matthews by 205 points.
Seaforth will likely have to beat out a new set of schools next season as the NCHSAA realignment in 2025 is expected to put the Hawks in a different conference. Chatham Charter may be in the same boat depending on how schools will be organized in the new eight-classification system.
With the possibility of the county teams being in more than two conferences, there could possibly be three or more of them that take a Conference Cup in the same year once again.
The last time that happened was when Northwood won the 2021-22 Central 3A Conference Cup, joining Seaforth and Chatham Charter in earning the award.